It’s been talked about for sometime and it’s here. Not dissimilar to “The Grid” (think Tron) but unfortunately far less 3D stimulating (for now).

When I first read of the concept somewhere around 2008 I thought it was a ridiculous premise given the cost and state of broadband in South Africa and I gave it little thought after that.

But like all grand concepts its takes over through a gradual erosion of fixed ideas. Just like online purchasing; just like social media.

This all came home to me in the last week. I will soon be purchasing the Samsung Galaxy 10.1 inch tablet. Its a beautiful device but I was more than a little miffed that it does not include an SD slot to extend the on board storage of 32 gigs. Will that be enough?

And then came the epiphany: Local (i.e. on your device) storage is becoming less important because we’re already in the cloud: Just about every picture I take goes to Facebook, Twitter and now Google+; every email I send and receive goes through and lives in the cloud; every blog I write is written and resident on the cloud; my notes, calendars, contacts and even documents are synchronized on every device through the cloud.

Why have it stored locally? It just doesn’t make sense anymore. Although still not to standard our broadband speeds are rising and costs falling so even that last cloud barrier of video and music will soon disappear. Within 36 months our lives will be firmly stored in the cloud and the majority of us will be none the wiser. Even today, most don’t consciously realise that their use of Facebook and Gmail means they’re firmly up in the clouds.

So 32 gigs will be plenty, thank you.

Now, if only Telkom will get back to me about installing my free broadband.